1. Technical Field
This application relates generally to management of content in a shared infrastructure.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Distributed computer systems are well-known in the prior art. One such distributed computer system is an overlay network that is operated and managed by a service provider. A commercial overlay network is sometimes referred to as a “content delivery network” or CDN. The service provider typically provides the content delivery service on behalf of third parties (customers) who use the service provider's infrastructure. A distributed system of this type typically refers to a collection of autonomous computers linked by a network or networks, together with the software, systems, protocols and techniques designed to facilitate various services, such as content delivery, web application acceleration, or other support of outsourced origin site infrastructure. A CDN service provider typically provides service delivery through digital properties (such as a website), which are provisioned in a customer portal and then deployed to the network. A digital property typically is bound to one or more edge configurations that allow the service provider to account for traffic and bill its customer.
While content delivery networks such as described above provide significant advantages, typically they include dedicated platforms to support delivery of content for multiple third party runtime environments that are, in turn, based on their own proprietary technologies, media servers, and protocols. These distinct platforms are costly to implement and to maintain, especially globally and at scale as the number of end users increases. Moreover, at the same time, content providers (such as large-scale broadcasters, film distributors, and the like) desire their content to be delivered online in a manner that complements traditional mediums such as broadcast TV (including high definition or “HD” television) and DVD. This content may also be provided at different bit rates. End users also desire to interact with the content as they can do now with traditional DVR-based content delivered over satellite or cable. A further complication is that Internet-based content delivery is no longer limited to fixed line environments such as the desktop, as more and more end users now use mobile devices such as the Apple® iPhone® to receive and view content over mobile environments.
It is also known to provide an integrated content delivery network platform with the ability to deliver online content (such as HD-quality video) at broadcast audience scale to the most popular runtime environments (such as Adobe® Flash®, Microsoft® Silveright®, etc.) as well as to mobile devices such as the iPhone to match what viewers expect from traditional broadcast TV. The techniques described in U.S. Publication No. 2011/0296048, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, address this problem. The approach described there provides an integrated HTTP-based delivery platform that provides for the delivery online of HD-video quality content to the most popular runtime environments and to the latest devices in both fixed line and mobile environments. The platform supports delivery of both “live” and “on-demand” content. The techniques described therein are sometimes referred to herein as the HD Network™.
As noted above, a content delivery network such as described above typically includes a customer portal. The customer portal is typically web-based and configured as an extranet configuration application by which users authorized by a CDN customer access and provision their services. One such service is the storage and delivery of digitized files, software, video, or other large objects. Customers who use the CDN shared infrastructure for this purpose typically require the ability to manage their content files. As used herein, file management typically refers to the ability to list, move, delete and upload files, as well as to create and remove directories in which the customer's content is stored. A CDN portal application (the “portal”) typically is implemented as a distributed, secure application comprising a web server-based front-end, one or more application servers, one or more database servers, a database, and other security, administrative and management components.
With the skyrocketing popularity of online audio and video, content publishers have an extraordinary opportunity to leverage the compelling, interactive medium that the Internet offers to reach greater audiences and explore new business models. Because content piracy fundamentally threatens the content provider's ability to monetize valuable assets, it must protect its content from unauthorized use and redistribution. Beyond the requirements of the provider's own business model, the provider may be further tasked with the challenge of enforcing security and access control restrictions driven by outside content rights holders.
Securing media assets is a complex issue, one that requires a defense-in-depth approach that employs different techniques to defend against different threats. In addition, content protection solutions need to strike the right balance between business and legal requirements, end user experience, and cost.
There is a need for a simple-to-use, web-based interface that enables configuration and application of various security services for media content that is adapted to be delivered over a third party infrastructure.